There has never been a better time to be an Orlando Pirates supporter. This season the team celebrated their 65th anniversary and topped it with a championship trophy, while two of its players walked away with prestigious soccer awards on Wednesday night.
Mbulelo Mabizela, the youngest captain to lift a championship medal, was named Supersport player of the season, while his teammate Lesley ”Slow Poison” Manyathela was awarded the golden boot award for being the top goal scorer in the Premier Soccer League.
The new, improved Pirates came about after Roy Barreto was hired as coach days after he lost his job with the Free State Stars when they were bought out of the league.
Despite heavy odds against them — the Buccaneers had to play catch-up games in order to be allowed to contest the title — Barreto says the players had set their sights firmly on league victory before the season had even started.
Pirates reached the number-one slot early on in the season and, with their self-belief confirmed, played consistently well throughout.
Although Barreto is unwilling to single out players it is clear that Manyathela, who scored 18 goals in the Premiership, had a big part to play in the victory. His success would have been limited though had it not been for midfielders Joseph Makhanya and Benedict Vilakazi, who provided defence-splitting passes, and for the excellent defence by Mabizela.
Barreto, who previously coached and won league titles with teams in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, says that coaching Pirates was a challenge. ”As a coach you are never satisfied with what you have achieved. Satisfaction could be a killer for your hunger to succeed.”
The coach believes the key to winning the title is consistency and focus.
Now that the Pirates have succeeded in lifting the Premiership cup for the second time, they need to prove their mettle to the rest of Africa by bringing back the Champions’ League Cup, which they last won in 1995.
Barreto is confident of their success but admits that it will be a tough task.